Stuck
by SimplyBel
Summary: One thing led to another after a simple prank caused a chase into the jungle. Now he was stuck and hidden from the outside world by a layer of leaves and his brother was nowhere to be seen. Great.
1. Chapter 1

**So the idea for this story came to me and wouldn't leave... Lighthearted fun for a change :) **

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If you scoured the oceans to find a specific island, and then once located, you found a large building on that said island, you may have heard the distinct yell that echoed around the complex, "I'm going to kill you, Alan!"

Now, this could have been screamed for any reason. The youngest of the family could have distracted someone whilst they were doing a complicated task or have a said cruel remark to a brother. He could have disobeyed an order when on a rescue or blamed someone else for a trick he pulled.

But if you zoomed in further, you would have seen that he had no need to frame someone else; because everyone knew it was him who had pushed the artist into the pool. The sight you'd see was a fully-clothed young man, jumping out of the pool with ease and standing completely still, going over what had happened in his head. This goes on for a few more seconds before realisation hits him as he sees the retreating back of a particular blonde haired teenager, and that's when he yells.

* * *

"You'll have to catch me first!" Alan shouted back as he ran onto the beach, still crying with laughter at the sight of Virgil's face as he fell into the water. It was priceless.

"Oh! Believe me, I will!" The weight of his wet clothes slowed down the dripping wet Tracy, but his determination to get his own back drove him on to catch up with his sibling. Sand stuck to his damp socks and he cursed his younger brother for wearing trainers instead of making this chase a little more fair by losing the shoes. "I'll just have to make sure I throw those in the pool with him..." He thought to himself.

They ran along the beach for a while, the sun on their backs and the sea to their left. All the time Alan was hearing curses and threats behind him from his older brother, they just made him laugh more, much to Virgil's annoyance. Just as he was catching up, the youngest suddenly turned a sharp right into the jungle and disappeared amongst the trees.

Virgil had been running fast. Too fast. The speed he was going made him miss the entrance to the jungle Alan had taken, and in the attempt to suddenly turn back on himself, his momentum caused him to fall. He lay face down in the sand for a few seconds before pushing himself back up and jumping to his feet. He found the entrance and was just in time to see his younger brother on the trail ahead before, yet again, Alan turned to avoid being caught. Virgil could still here the laughter.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU TWICE ALAN!"

* * *

Alan ran for his life, it was funny, but terrifying at the same time having an older male chase you down and threaten to kill you; it should scar any normal teenage boy. As he dodged trees and logs, he began to think if the push into the pool was worth all this exercise. On the other hand, the look on Virgil's face as he fell may have been the best part of his week.

It'd been pretty boring of late, not many rescues and a lot of casual moping around looking for a hobby to be getting along with or a prank to pull. Alan was proud to say that he got the first prank before Gordon... Not that Gordon's well-behaved streak would last much longer once he realised he had competition with his youngest brother.

Virgil had done nothing to Alan to upset or annoy him, he was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. The wrong place being on the edge of the pool and the wrong time referring to just as Alan appeared outside and saw his chance for potential mischief.

Alan had heard the 'thud' as Virgil had fallen on the beach when he'd turned into the jungle, this had made him laugh even more, but also pointed out the fact that Virgil was closing in on him.

The chase had lost it's innocent humour and both brothers knew it. It was all about revenge and saving one's skin from one's sibling. Alan desperately looked for somewhere to hide while his brother could cool off, but it was difficult to search for a place while moving as fast as he was through the undergrowth. There were no possible hollowed out tree trunk, or a large bush with a gap in it that he could squeeze through. He had to keep running. He cursed aloud when all he could see were vines, bushes, leaves and trees. And trees. And TREES! He knew what he had to do.

Alan glanced back to try and get a feel of the distance between Virgil and himself. His older brother hadn't turned the last corner Alan had made, so the younger Tracy took this opportunity to stop and look up for the tallest tree. The only way to escape was via height, Virgil would easily find him otherwise.

His eyes locked onto a tree further ahead off the trail, low branches that he'd just about be able to reach, a thick trunk to hide behind and lot a leaves for cover. Perfect.

The sound of threats made it's way around the corner of the trail and Alan saw Virgil running towards him, still a smile was on his face despite being soaking wet, only socks on his feet and now covered in sand head to toe.

Alan rushed off the trail towards the tree and hid behind the truck before his brother could see him. As Virgil passed him on the trail, the blonde knew his brother would be back in a number of seconds after realising that Alan was no longer in front of him, so he had to start climbing now.

It took a couple of jump attempts to reach the lowest branch and haul himself up onto it. He then stood up on the wood and hooked his arms over the next branch above and using all his arm strength to pull his body upwards, using the grooves in the trunk as footholds. A couple more branches up and Alan thought he was high enough. He sat on the branch with his legs either side of it, swinging.

"Alan?!"

Virgil was back, and by the sound of his voice he was more worried than revengeful. "Where'd you go?!"

Alan smirked, if he stayed up there longer then he would be sure to be safe from Virgil's wrath and be welcomed down due to the pure anxiety of his brother. But Virgil continued to move into Alan's eyesight and off the trail.

An awful thought crossed the youngest's mind that he would still be seen as his brother approached. He did not have as much leaf cover as the top of the tree had, so ever so silently he stood on the branch and reached up again.

His fingers grabbed air. There was no branch above him for a while, meaning he either had to stay where he was, or risk it and jump.

The branch of the tree above was a wide one that jutted out further that any of the other branches. It was long enough to he would be able to sit with his back to the trunk and legs stretched out in front of him.

Call it Tracy stubbornness, but Alan was not in the right mind to stay on the branch he was on, midway up a tree. No way! He wanted to go higher, to push himself and to prove that no matter his height in comparison to his brothers, he could still do it.

He bent his knees and jumped... And missed. He landed back down on the branch he was on and instantly went about steadying himself by holding into the trunk. The wood under him groaned and cracked slightly under his weight but Alan couldn't hear it over his sigh of relief that he had something solid under him.

"Breathe. Just breathe. It's only a small jump!" He whispered to himself as he caught his breath.

"ALAN?! C'mon man, Scott'll kill me if you're lost in here! I promise I'll go easy on you!" Alan's head snapped down to see his brother beneath him, his hands cupped around his mouth as he yelled.

The blonde waited for the artist to move on through the undergrowth until he tried to jump again. This time his fingers just brushed the target and he landed a little unsteadily on the branch again. However, he had no reason not to hear the sound of splitting wood under him and fear rushed through him.

The branch couldn't hold his weight much longer, and Alan was sure it would snap if he tried to jump again and failed.

Determination set in, but the fear didn't leave him. He closed his eyes, he bent his knees and he swung his arms upright as he launched his body off of the wood. He heard a distinct snapping and a cracking sound beneath him and knew the branch had finally broken and fallen from his motion.

His hands gripped the branch above him. He had done it.

But his hands were too small and the branch was too wide for them to wrap around it, so he hung there, his hands hooked onto it and his body dangling under it. Even if he pulled himself up and sat down, he knew there was no way he'd be able to get back down the way he came, not with that branch missing and the other being a very long way away. He would've had a death wish if he wanted to fall all the way down to there anyway. The trunk was too thick to climb around to a branch on the other side. He cursed his choice of tree.

So he was stuck, struggling to pull his body weight up onto a branch high up in the middle of a jungle. He was hidden from the outside world by a layer of leaves and his brother was now nowhere to be seen.

Great.

"VIRGIL!"

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**Oo cliff hanger! More will follow soon, don't worry :) Thanks for reading! Reviews are loved xx**


	2. Chapter 2

**wow wow wow! Thank you all for you reviews for the first chapter! Was not expecting that :D**

**In response to CS Tracy, I think that you can interpret this for any verse you want :) I personally see it as a movie verse but it's up to you :) thanks for the review x**

**Enjoy y'all xx**

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Falling...

That thought had crossed his mind as he hung there, suspended from the branch. Maybe falling would be easier and less embarrassing then trying to get onto the branch and having to wait for his brother to come and help. Then again, he'd end up being mollycoddled by all of his brothers if he broke a bone or bruised a rib, and Virgil's payback would be in the form of keeping him locked in the infirmary rather than just a simple prank of revenge. Alan had had his fair share of pranks, he could take them, but he knew he was awful at being a patient and would lose his mind in the infirmary at the hands of the medic.

So for his sanity's sake, he stayed holding onto the tree and continued to call for his brother. Coming out of this situation with dignity was impossible either way.

* * *

The want for revenge had faded slightly as Virgil searched for his brother in the jungle. He still wanted to push Alan into the pool (along with those trainers) ever so badly and teach him a lesson for running off and hiding instead of facing what was inevitable. Alan and his stupid shoes were going in that water, whether Virgil had to drag him out of the undergrowth or not.

"VIRGIL!" The medic's body swivelled round to face where the sound had come from, and he instantly began running back the way he came towards the trail. The sound of his brothers voice was more filled with fear and trepidation than tormenting him for not finding the blonde teenager sooner.

"ALAN!?" He yelled back, still running, "where are you?" He stopped abruptly to create a silence to hear a reply but none came. He spun on the spot and would've continued to run towards the trail had he not been attacked from above.

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Alan couldn't help it; the temptation was too much. An extremely thin branch grew off the trunk to his left, just below his foot. It was one of those branches that was good for nothing more than holding leaves and that was thick enough for you to wrap your finger around it and still touch your palm. If you stood on it, you'd fall, easy as that.

But seeing Virgil beneath him once more, although it filled him with relief, Alan couldn't quite help the instinct to play one last prank on his brother before he was undoubtedly going to go through being rescued from a tree and his brothers never letting him live that down.

So he manoeuvred his foot to the left and kicked it repeatedly until he heard the same sound as earlier when the branch had snapped and fallen. To his delight, when he looked down passed his chest and swinging legs, he was in time to see the branch hit Virgil right on the head. The medic of course went into defence mode and instantly ducked down and covered his head.

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Alan's laughter erupted throughout the jungle.

Virgil stood up sharply and brushed himself down, obviously embarrassed once he'd seen that his "attacker" was a piece of wood with leaves attached. The laughter made him look up, now he was even less happy.

"Alan! Oh my gosh! How did you- why would you- are you alright!?"

"Oh hey Virg! Nice of you to join me. Don't mind me... I'm just hanging around!" Alan laughed aloud again.

"No. What you've been doing is spending too much time with Gordon and picking up on his tacky jokes." Virgil shouted back up.

"Excuse me!" Alan yelled down, "I'll have you know that these jokes are of my own invention, copywrited and everything. Gordon may use them if he wants, but he needs a letter of consent from me and-"

"Yeh, yeh, yeh, I get it! _You're_ the comedian. Can we concentrate on how on earth you got up there? Can you make it to that branch? How long have you been hanging there? Are you hurt at all? How are you planning on getting down? What -"

"Now look who's rambling!?" Alan sighed and shifted his hands slightly on the branch so he could flex his cramping fingers. "First off, I climbed up here to evade you but the branch I was on snapped and I had to jump to reach this one or I would've fallen. Yes, I think I could maybe reach the branch but I've tried already and my arm strength is failing. I've been up here for about 5 or 10 minutes, I don't know because I can't exactly see my watch at this moment! No I am not hurt, that's just my dignity on the floor there in tatters. Finally... I was kinda hoping you'd get me down?"

Alan seemed hopeful, and Virgil hated to let him down but he had to tell him.

"Alan I can't climb up and get you. I sorry but it seems like someone pushed me into a swimming pool and now I'm soaking wet and will have no grip on the branches... I don't know who did it but I'll be sure to get my own back on them for your sake! This sand doesn't help either, or the fact that I'm only in socks, walking around in a jungle trying to find my missing brother who just so happens to be stuck up a tree!"

"Okay! I get your point, it's all my fault blah blah blah. WHAT DO I DO?!"

"Calm down for starters! Let's just get you up onto that branch and then I'll go get Scott or something. He's pretty tall and a lot dryer than I am!"

"Oh yeh Virgil, let's get everybody involved shall we?"

"Or you could just stay up there and I can go home and act all innocent. Having people wander where you are and me asking 'oh have you seen Alan at all?' types of questions. Possibly wait a few days before suggesting that we search the jungle... Who knows? Maybe you'll still be hanging on!"

"Fine! Get Scott! Get Gordon and let him laugh at me for all I care! Just get me down please?!" Alan shouted down, feeling his arms becoming weaker.

"Ah a sudden change in mood I see. Where would you be without me?"

"Virgil! Please!?" Worry was obvious in his voice.

Virgil caught the tone in his brothers voice. The middle Tracy automatically stopped the teasing and switched to a more mature version of himself, calculating the steps needed to be taken to save his brother. "You said your arm strength was going right?"

"Is this going to help?!"

"Well what if you didn't need to use your arms?" Virgil asked thoughtfully.

"Be more specific? You may have all the time in the world but be prepared to catch me if I fall while you take a few years to get to the point!"

"You managed to kick that branch down on me, thanks for that by the way, meaning that your legs are seemingly fine. Can you not swing your legs up to the right of the branch and pull yourself up once you've got your arms and right leg hooked?"

"Easier said than done but I guess I can try..." Alan seemed apprehensive and slightly more worried about falling now he was going to add swinging his body to the list of things to be dreading.

He shifted the weight of his hands again, making it so that when he put more weight on this left, his body swayed in that direction.

Once he had enough momentum, he lifted his right leg up and missed the tree. He cursed out loud, ignoring the disproving noise his brother made by his remark.

"Keep trying." Virgil encouraged, standing directly below his brother now, ready to catch him if he did actually fall. He watched as his blonde sibling attempted once more after a forceful swing and succeeded in hooking his leg on the branch. "Great work!"

Alan puffed out a large amount of air that he didn't realise he was holding when he used the last of his arm strength to push himself onto his knees on the branch once his right leg was up. He immediately turned to sit down properly with his back against the trunk. Relief.

"Thanks Virgil. If it's any consolation, I am sorry for the pool incident."

"Yeh in sure you are Allie!" Virgil laughed, "Now sit tight, I'll go and get the others!" Feeling that his brother was as safe as he was going the be, the Virgil ran back onto the trail and started to follow it back onto the beach, onto the patio and into the villa.

"Wait?! What?! Virgil?! What do you mean 'the others'? I thought you were just getting Scott?!" Alan shouted after his brother. He sighed when he got no response and settled once more against the trunk.

He was still stuck, now it was just time for the humiliation to begin.

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**Thank you all for reading! Hope you like it :) More humour to follow soon! What do you think the others' reactions will be? :) **

**Reviews are so loved xxx**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you all for following, favouriting and reviewing! It means sooo much! I never expect this many reads! Hope you enjoy this xx**

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Virgil ran onto the patio, passed the pool and scooped up a towel from a lone chair; obviously one Gordon had abandoned earlier on from a swim. As he reached the double doors, he took a deep breath and pushed them open to reveal his three other brothers sat in the kitchen around the table. John and Scott's backs were to the doors where Virgil stood but Gordon faced him across the table.

"Hey, Virg you almost missed lunch but I think Scott may have saved you some -" John said without turning around, simply assuming it was his artistic brother behind him. But he was cut off by a loud howl of laughter from Gordon.

Scott and John turned around to face Virgil at the redheads loud noise and were taken aback by his appearance. His clothes stuck to his wet body and he was still covered in sand from where he had fallen over on the beach.

"V- Vir-Virgil!" Gordon said between gulps of air as he laughed at his brother. He slapped his hands on the table and fell sideways in his chair as he tried to restrain himself from collapsing completely.

"What happened?" Scott asked, also trying to keep his humour in check and holding a hand up to his mouth to stop a smile.

"Yeh, the last time we saw you, you were chasing Alan off down the beach after we heard a splash. We assumed Alan had pushed you in the pool and you'd chased him off." John said, seemingly the only one with a cool head, although was questioning why Virgil looked the way he did.

"Virg! Y-you look like a sandcastle threw up on you!" Gordon lifted the hand that was steadying him on the table to point at his brother, causing him finally fall off his chair and end up rolling on the floor clutching his stomach. Virgil still stood in the doorway and held his hands up in surrender as if to say "laugh it up" to his brothers.

He peeled off his shirt and threw it somewhere on the floor, ignoring the glare from his eldest brother as he did so. Virgil tried his best to dry his torso with the towel but the material was already damp from Gordon's swim so didn't really do the job.

"So what _did_ happen to our little brother? You push him in the pool already?" Scott asked again, trying to peer behind Virgil to look out to see if the blonde teen was in the water.

"Well there was a slight problem..." Virgil said anxiously, still dabbing with the towel.

"What kind of problem?!" Scott instantly stood up, John got up next to him and Gordon leaned himself up against the kitchen counter, still sitting on the floor after controlling his laughter.

"Nothing too major. Umm, Alan just..." Virgil rubbed the back of his neck, "well I just lost track of him in the jungle and-"

"The jungle?! You lost him in the jungle?" Scott asked loudly, clearly worried.

"No no no! I know where he is but I just can't get to him."

"And how is that any better?" Gordon asked, standing up and walking over to ruffle the sand out of Virgil's hair to make a point.

Virgil slapped the hand away, making Gordon giggle. "Well it's good because Scott can get him even if I can't."

"Where is he then?" John asked.

"Up a tree." Vigil said flatly.

Gordon fell on the floor again.

* * *

"What?!"

"How?!"

"Ahaha! This just keeps getting better and better!"

"Gordon! This isn't funny!"

"Killjoy."

Virgil sighed as he sifted through the pile of clean washing in a basket on the counter for a clean shirt. There were too many questions being fired at once and they needed to get to Alan before it got dark outside. Gordon wasn't helping either, he had collapsed in a fit of laughter once being told about Alan's situation and hadn't shut up since; and Virgil wasn't the only one getting fed up of his giggles.

He found a shirt that he could fit into (whether it was his or not was another question) and slid it over his head as his brothers continued to argue with Gordon whilst the redhead got up off the floor again.

"ALRIGHT!" He walked back over and stood in the doorway again. "Alan needs help and all you need to know is that he climbed a tree and got stuck when a branch broke." Gordon broke out into laughter again but was abruptly stopped when Virgil threw the wet towel at his face.

"Can you take us to him? Remember where he is?" John asked as they all stepped out onto the patio.

"Yeh it's not that hard to find, just off one of the main trails, and the tree isn't difficult to miss."

"Why is that?" Gordon questioned as he snatched the towel away from his eyes and raised his arm to throw it back at Virgil. Scott caught the material midair before it collided with Virgil and gave Gordon a glare. The redhead innocently shrugged as the medic continued to explain.

"Let's just say that it's a very big tree... And Alan's quite a way up it with a huge gap between the branch he's on and the one below."

"So how am I supposed to get him down?" Scott inquired, throwing the towel on the ground and out of the picture once and for all.

"Stand on the one beneath him and .. Well we will just have to see won't we? Let's get there first and then decide what to do. I don't want to leave him there much longer. The only reason I couldn't get to him earlier was because I would've had no grip from my wet and sandy hands."

"Is he safe?" John spoke up again as the brothers made there way passed the pool and towards the beach.

"Yeh! Of course I wouldn't leave him if he was in the sate he was earlier."

"What state?!" Scott asked, raising an eyebrow.

Virgil flinched and mentally kicked himself for mentioning Alan's previous situation. "Well he wasn't exactly on the branch when I found him. More like, dangling off it and holding on for his life. But I instructed him on how to get on it so so don't worry, he is safe now."

"And you did not think of mentioning this earlier because...?" Scott sounded exasperated.

"Because you'd react like this!" Virgil laughed as he slipped trainers onto his feet that were on the edge of the patio.

"And you ran into the jungle in just socks because...?" John mimicked Scott's tone of voice.

"Because I didn't have a chance to put my trainers on as I was shoved into the pool and then chasing a certain brother down the beach. The whole reason I was by the pool earlier was so I could find my shoes!"

Gordon managed to speak up this time without laughing "So Alan's wearing shoes at least, right?" The worry for his younger brother was starting to show, "I mean, you didn't make him climb a tree in just socks?" He giggled again, making the others groan and the maturity was gone.

"What? _I_ didn't make him! It wasn't _me_ that ran into the jungle first! It wasn't _me_ that ran off the trail to find a place to hide! It wasn't _me_ that got myself stuck in a tree!"

"Jeez Virgil. This is serious!" Gordon said mockingly, "It's not all about _you_, this is about Alan." He laughed at the rage in his brother's face as he ran down onto the beach.

But Virgil just took a deep breath and Scott slapped a hand down on his shoulder. "Don't worry about him, he just likes to wind you up, it'll be Alan's turn later. You'll see."

Virgil smiled at the thought of being free of Gordon's jokes and the centre of his teasing. "And besides," Scott continued, "he doesn't even know where he's going!"

The three eldest Tracy brothers laughed as they watched Gordon race down the beach, kicking up sand behind him as he believed Virgil to be chasing him after the comments he'd made. The redhead couldn't wait to find Alan, not just to make sure he was okay, but to make sure he'd never forget this day.

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**Ooh they're on their way! Hehe, thank you all for reading! I hope Gordon's reactions were as amusing for you to read as they were for me to write. **

**Reviews are loved xx**


	4. Chapter 4

Alan sat on his branch with his eyes closed listening to the distant sound of the sea. He was whistling to himself, imagining he was far away from the wretched tree and by the pool, in his room or by the beach. He wanted to be anywhere but where he was stuck, helpless and awaiting a rescue that would consist of humiliation, teasing and obvious revenge from Virgil. No doubt that the artistic Tracy would involve all of his siblings so that he'd never forget this day. This was going to be so embarrassing for the youngest, and he knew there was nothing he can do about it, he had got himself into this mess all by himself.

"Stupid Virgil standing by the pool at the wrong time!" Obviously Alan had to think of someone else to blame. If it'd been Scott or Gordon that he had pushed, they would have caught up with him on the beach and this whole thing would be over with; Alan would not be stuck in a tree awaiting his brothers' return and the revenge would already been over and done with.

"Stupid Virgil for being such a slow runner!"

"Oh! So it's my fault now is it!?"

* * *

Virgil, John and Scott managed to slow Gordon down enough to tell him where to go before he ran off the edge of the island from excitement. All four of them found the exit off the beach to the right and into the jungle where they found the trail that Alan had taken earlier.

"So where about's this tree?" John asked as they pushed overgrown branches and kicked sticks out of their path.

"Like I said, you can't miss it. It is just ahead, turn right and then a sharp right off of the trail."

"Good! 'Cause I can't wait!" Gordon ran ahead again, following Virgil's directions and heading right when the trail turned.

"Jeez, Alan really did want to evade you when he ran. All these right turns and hiding up a tree! Did you threaten him or something?" Scott laughed.

"A few death threats may have come out of my mouth as I was running... But remember that I was covered in sand and soaking wet, how would you have reacted if our little brother was laughing and running away from you when you were in that state?!" Virgil argued back, refusing to take the blame for Alan's situation. Scott merely laughed again, remembering how Virgil had looked.

"That funny huh? Remind me of that when I throw you in the pool and push your face into the sand!" Virgil raised his eyebrows, looking challengingly at his brother.

"You just try." This time it was John that laughed when Scott's answer was blunt, and caused Virgil's eyes to narrow.

"Hey! Virg! Are we close yet?" Gordon shouted back from up ahead. The medic looked at their surroundings and spotted broken branches and hedges to their right, signalling the path Alan had taken to get off of the trail to the tree.

"Yeh, just off here." As they turned away from the trail and the huge tree came into view, Scott, John and Gordon automatically looked up in the hope to see Alan, but the blonde was concealed by the leaves around him from the angle they were looking up at. Somewhere from the top of the tree however, they heard a distinctive voice.

"Stupid Virgil for being such a slow runner!"

"Oh! So it's my fault now is it!?" Virgil shouted back as the four brothers rounded the tree to able able to see their trapped sibling.

* * *

Alan physically jumped and slipped sideways in his seated position on the branch, causing him to thrust his arms out behind him to lock around the trunk and guide his legs back onto the wood.

A chorus of "whoa!" "be careful" and "are you okay?!" erupted from beneath him.

The youngest breathed out a "yeh" as he steadied himself, before shouting down, "Let me know that you're here in a way that won't potentially kill me!"

"Hey!" The artist stepped up to the trunk and looked up at his brother, "You're blaming me! Of course I'm going to say something other than 'hi brother dearest we are here to save your scrawny behind from the plant life you so smartly climbed'!" Virgil yelled back up.

"Well -" Alan began.

"Alright children, let's break it up now shall we?" Scott said, pushing a hand onto Virgil's chest and pushing him back slightly, making the middle Tracy stand down.

"All I was saying was that if you could run faster like Scott or someone then you would've caught me on the beach and we wouldn't be in this situation!"

Virgil stepped back up again, "YOU climbed the tree Alan! Not me!"

"Guess not then." Scott muttered, walking back to Gordon and John as the brothers continued to argue.

"What's that got to do with your running speed?!" Alan snapped his head down to look at Virgil.

"I ran because YOU pushed me in the pool, not to show off how fast I could run only in socks and sodden from head to toe along a tropical beach!"

"It's not my fault you were in the wrong place at the wrong time!"

"Oh so now it's Scott, John and Gordon's fault for not being by the pool and being faster runners than me?"

"HEY!" The other three shouted in unison.

"I never said that!" Alan defended.

"Well you implied it!" Virgil crossed his arms.

"Well maybe if you weren't all so boring, we'd be doing something else right now! If I hadn't done this then we'd all be lounging by the pool or aimlessly walking around our house!"

"Oi! What's wrong with the pool?!" Gordon shouted up at Alan from where he was standing with John and Scott. He was ignored.

"Oh! So you were bored... Is that it?! No rescues so Alan Tracy decides to scale a tree!"

"Ugh! You're misinterpreting everything I say!"

"It's almost as if you're blaming everybody and everything other than yourself Alan! You're even blaming the Earth for not causing disasters for us to go to, simply to save your boredom!"

"I NEVER SAID THAT!"

"Right! Okay! That's it! That's enough!" Scott was tired of listening to petty scrabbling, it was getting later and sooner or later Alan would begin to get cold up in the tree. He'd been trying to hide his laughter along with John and Gordon throughout the argument but Alan's last shout had been a wakeup call to him that things could get officially heated and someone may say something they regret later. The eldest Tracy brother stepped forward and forcible pulled Virgil back away from the trunk so he could look up at Alan himself. He almost sighed in relief when he saw his brother was safely sat on a sturdy branch, the images in his head had put Alan in a more precarious state.

"Right, it's great to see you and all Allie but how's about you just accept that this IS your fault and then I can get you down?"

"It's not -"

"Hey! I want to go home too but you've got to see that Virgil's in the right and you're in the wrong here Alan. Nobody is to blame other than yourself for you climbing the tree, okay?"

Alan sighed again and broke eye contact as he looked at his legs that were stretched out in front of him rather than Scott's eyes. "Yeh... Okay then fine."

A satisfied "ha!" was heard from behind Scott, obviously from Virgil, but was silenced by an elbow in the ribs from John.

"Can I please come down now?" Alan seemed a little less argumentative and more pleading with his brothers now. He looked back down to see Gordon and John stand where Scott had been.

"How'd you even get up that far?" John asked, scouring the tree for suitable branches he would choose to climb up to Alan's level.

"A branch snapped when I was climbing." Alan pointed to the splinted remains of the wood that stuck out of trunk beneath him.

Gordon was trying to hide his laughter by keeping a hand in front of his mouth as he looked up at his younger brother.

"Oh for goodness sake just let it out already!" Alan told the redhead, then smirked when he added, "and that tiny little twig there is what I threw down at Virgil to make him go into full karate mode." The blonde pointed again.

Gordon erupted with laughter and had to put his hands on his knees to steady his breathing. 'At least he isn't just laughing at me now' Alan thought.

Scott stepped forward again as John guided Gordon by his shaking shoulders away from the tree.

"Please get me down?"

"Yes! Of course, like I said, I want to go home too ya know?" Scott smiled but it didn't reach his eyes. "I've just gotta figure out a way of how to actually get to you."

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**Sorry for the long wait between chapters!**

**Thank you all for your amazing feedback, reviews, favouriting and following! This chapter was a bit shorter... Sorry :/ been very busy at the moment but should get back into writing soon. More to come from this story, another chapter in the works for TwoFaced Blue and I'm also planning for more little fics like this one! :)**

**Reviews are loved xxx**


	5. Chapter 5

**Oh my gosh it's been ages! I'm so sorry for the wait! I hope you enjoy this :)**

**p.s. If there are any Outsiders fans out there, then check out my new story "Bullets that Ripped"**

**Thank you...**

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Scott sighed as he looked up at his youngest brother, trying to work out how on Earth he could get to him with the huge gap between where the blonde sat, and where the other branches were.

"Alan, if I was to climb to the branch beneath you, do you reckon if you slide down I could catch you from there?"

"Scott, if I was to 'slide' down to the branch beneath me, do you reckon that if you missed I'd die?!" Alan mocked his brother as he shouted back.

"Hey! I'm trying to help you here!"

"How would you even steady yourself on that branch to stand up and catch me?"

"Lean against the trunk and hold my arms up."

"And what if I'm heavier than you think? Or you slip to one side as I 'slide' down and we both fall to our deaths?"

"You think of something then, genius!"

"We wouldn't let you fall!" It was John's turn to shout up, "Gordon, Virgil and I could stand at the bottom and catch you just in case Scott fails to."

"Your confidence in me is flattering guys, really." Scott muttered. He turned to face his other brothers, "As if I would drop him?! You doubt my catching skills."

"Scotty, we've played catch in the pool for years, I think we are all aware that your hand-eye coordination is losing it's touch." The redhead of the family laughed loudly, also bringing a smirk to Alan's lips from his position above them.

"Shut it Gordon! A volley ball is not the same as a teenager!"

"Thanks for that captain obvious, I'll endeavour to use this information next time I accidentally pick up Alan and throw him at you instead of a small sphere!" Gordon's sarcasm finally got everyone but Scott chuckling and holding their stomachs. That was until the eldest said:

"How would we play catch in the water Gordo if let's say, someone accidentally drained all the pool water mysteriously over night!?"

The joker stopped laughing and he became the only sibling to not wear a smile on his face.

"Just think about that next time you make me sound stupid, little brother." Scott smirked and turned back up to face Alan, "So what do you think?"

"About your ability to tell the difference between a ball and me?" Alan laughed.

"Watch it." Scott crossed his arms, "No. I mean about the plan."

"Well it's not that I don't trust you..."

"But?"

"But it's more Virgil I don't trust."

"HEY!" A shout came from the ground where Alan couldn't see his brothers standing.

"What do you mean?" Scott questioned.

"I mean, if you DID drop me," Alan saw Scott's glare, "which I'm sure you wouldn't!" The teen quickly added, "I don't know if I can trust our artistic brother to catch me due to how he feels about me right now."

Scott understood and moved to the side, out of Alan's eyesight as Virgil moved into it and looked up at his brother.

"First off, I'm better at catching than Scott anyway so don't worry about that." He earned death glare from his eldest brother and he smiled briefly, "And secondly," he crossed his arms as Scott had done, "as much as I dislike you right now, and as tempting as it is to get my revenge, I would not ever think that killing you would satisfy my need to get my own back."

"_That's_ reassuring." Alan said sarcastically, using the same tone of voice Gordon had earlier.

"I mean it. I'll get you back Alan, you know it! But I would never put your life at risk to do so, you should know that too!"

"Okay, you've convinced me." Alan sounded genuine. He never doubted that his brother wouldn't catch him but he couldn't be so sure that he wouldn't play some kind of trick if he did fall; like moving out of the way at the last second or something.

"Plus!" Virgil added, "It would mean a whole heap of paperwork for IR if you broke bones and couldn't go on rescues. As the medic, I can't be bothered."

"Living up to your responsibilities there I see!" John chucked at his next younger brother.

Scott replaced Virgil's position below Alan on the ground next to the trunk, "And I'd personally murder Virgil if he killed you."

"Uh, thanks?" Alan laughed at his brothers arguing below as they decided what they would do to their medic brother if he failed to catch him.

"So, is that a 'yes' to the plan?" Scott looked back up to his brother.

"Um, sure. Okay, go for it." Alan cringed as he let his voice be laced with the obvious worry that he was feeling. He hoped his brothers didn't pick up on it; no suck luck.

"Hey," Scott said soothingly as he pulled himself up onto the first branch off of the jungle floor, "don't worry okay? I'm coming to get you and you'll be down in no time." All the glares of frustration and the feelings of slight anger had disappeared from the eldest Tracy son when he heard his brother's anxious tone.

"Yeh, Allie! We're right here too, we ain't going anywhere." Even Gordon wasn't joking around for once in trying to comfort his younger brother.

"Yes, Alan. We _aren't_ going anywhere." John corrected his redheaded brother and spoke to the other blonde Tracy at the same time, making Alan smile again to a small degree.

"And I WILL catch you if you fall. I promise." Alan could hear the seriousness in Virgil's voice and relaxed back a little against the tree trunk to wait for his brother to reach him.

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Scott, unknowingly, followed the same route up the tree that Alan had used earlier that day to escape Virgil. He hooked his arms over the same branches and hoisted himself up onto the same pieces of wood that stuck out of the tree.

"How are you doing Alan?" He asked, midway up as he closed in on his brother.

"Honestly?"

"That would be best, yes."

"I'm getting a tad dizzy from the height, looking down at you climbing up and yet the others still staying as small as ever below me."

Scott had thought that this would happen, being up for so long with nothing better to do that notice the height of Alan's position would eventually take it's toll. "Then stop looking down for the moment, okay? Just concentrate on your legs that are out in front of you and listen to my voice."

"Alright." There was a pause, "Are you almost there?"

"Yeh Alan, just hold on okay? A couple more branches and I'm there below you."

Alan didn't answer, he simply did as he was told and looked at his legs stretched out on the branch. He could hear the creaking of branches get louder as Scott climbed higher towards him, the weight of his brother being more than his own when he had climbed them before. He then began to hear heavy breathing, signalling that his brother was almost with him and Alan sagged in relief.

"You out of shape Scotty?" Alan teased, still refusing to take his focus off of his legs.

"I could easily just climb back down again if you have an issue with my breathing!" Scott stopped climbing to shout, still breathing heavily. He winced as he remembered Alan's worried tone and quickly reassured his youngest brother. "You know, I'd never do that right?" Scott grabbed the next branch above him and continued to move.

Alan sighed, "I know you wouldn't." A wave of dizziness swept over him again and he added, "Just hurry up, yeh?"

"I'm here Alan." The youngest blonde could almost hear the smile on Scott's face through his voice.

"Really!?" Alan turned to look below him and sure enough, Scott was standing on the next branch down with his arms up and his palms facing his brother, ready to catch him. "That was quick!"

"I guess I'm not so out of shape as you think." Scott muttered as he dropped his arms to move his feet in order to steady his body against the trunk for support.

Alan regretted saying that to his brother after he looked down to see him standing there, saving him. Scott had evidently climbed as fast as he could, struggling to pull his huge frame through the gaps in the tree where the branches grew apart. This would explain his loud breathing, and Alan felt awful for teasing him.

"Nah, you're not out of shape, Scotty. I just want to get down now, I'm fed up of this tree. I didn't mean what I said, I -"

"I know you didn't, I understand. Now let's get you down so Virgil can get his revenge and I can sleep tonight." Scott laughed, but Alan knew he was being genuine when he spoke of sleeping. The youngest knew that Scott suffered from stress and worry from having four brothers to watch over, so this tree stunt wasn't the best thing for Scott's peace of mind.

"You know what? I may just stay up here to avoid Virgil. What do you think? Help me build a little tree house of something? Maybe some curtains in the windows..."

"Alan. You're getting down within the next half an hour or I'll just tell dad what happened after I drag you down this tree myself."

"You mean you wouldn't tell him anyway?"

"No, I wasn't planning on it. Besides, it would mean a possible suspension from International Rescue for being such an idiot. Dad may want to check up on your mental state for all we know. 'Why would someone climb the largest tree on a tropical island simple to avoid an act of brotherly revenge?' for example." Scott chuckled at Alan's glaring eyes. "In short, no. No I wouldn't tell him unless he already has suspicions. We can just tell him we all went for a walk in the jungle."

"Thanks" Alan smiled, "I guess this means I have to come down then." Even though he wanted to desperately put his feet on the ground again, he was apprehensive about all the ways Virgil could get back at him.

"Virgil is not going to touch you or get revenge on you or prank you until you are safe and recovered, alright?" Scott nodded up at his brother for reassurance, then put his arms back up, palms facing the sky. "You ready?"

"Do you mean, am I 'ready to potentially fall to my death or break a few bones on the way' then yes. I want to get down." Alan said as he gripped either side of the branch he was on with his hands and carefully swung his legs over the side so that they were dangling above Scott's head. As he did so, his leg got caught in the movement on a loose piece of bark that jabbed his skin where his shorts ending.

Alan hissed and pulled the splinter out of his leg, it hadn't penetrated far, but it hurt enough for the teen to let out a small curse as he threw the piece of wood as far away from himself as possible.

"Language, Alan." Scott chastised, "You alright though?"

"Yeh, sorry, it was just a splinter." He let out a long sigh he didn't know he was holding back and and wriggled so he was sat right on the edge of the side of the branch. "Okay, Scotty."

"Ready?"

"As I'll ever be."

"Three." Scott started to count down and Alan tensed to push off from the branch and fall down to his brother.

"Two." This was a bad idea; what were they thinking?

'Couldn't we just get the Thunderbirds and all their gadgets to get me down in a safer way?' Alan thought, closing his eyes as tight as he could.

"One." Scott's arms bent slightly at the elbow as he braced himself for Alan's weight. The young blonde opened his eyes and-

"Go!"

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**Ooo cliffhanger... *sorry***

**Honestly I'm so sorry for the long wait between chapters, I've been very busy at the moment. I hope you enjoyed this nonetheless. **

**I'd like to say a huge thank you for all the support I've received, I never expected this small story to be so popular! All the following and favouriting is so great :) but it's really the reviews and the readers positive feedback that kicks me to write more as soon as I can! Thank you all!**

**A massive thank you especially to Ro-RoWeasley for all your support and lengthy reviews you give me for very chapter! :) If any readers out there are looking for a great story, you've got to check out her story "Trouble" on this website! Go! Do it now!**

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